BOOK TWO: PURSUIT

FIVE

We left Kalm the next morning about an hour or so after dawn. As on our journey there, we split up again, deciding that it would be safer that way and make it that much harder for Shinra to catch up to us. We had heard, from talking with more of the townsfolk while preparing to leave, that Shinra was blaming us for the president's death and those of the others who had been killed when Jenova had escaped. I wasn't at all surprised, though. Neither were Tifa and the others.

After a quiet breakfast in the upstairs common room of the inn, we slipped quietly out through the city gates, setting out on foot to further complicate Shinra's efforts to find us. We followed the main highway as it curved gently southeast through the grasslands and nearby farms but didn't actually stay on it. We split up shortly after leaving Kalm, Barret and Tifa staying south of the road while Aerith, Red, and I kept just to the north of it. Cars and trucks drove on by in the distance as we went on with the road just at the very edge of sight as a long gray ribbon on the horizon. As we walked, we kept in touch with Tifa and Barret using the new phones we'd bought in Kalm. They were cheap burners we had paid for with cash, but they worked and were harder to track.

The sun rose ahead of us as we went on, rising higher in the sky as the hours passed. We didn't speak all that much, each of us wrapped in our own thoughts. Aerith and I wore packs on our backs in addition to our weapons, and we walked side by side through the knee-high grass, a soft breeze gently cooling our cheeks as Red padded a short distance ahead of us. Not a bad beginning for a quest, really.

As we made our way east, we encountered a few scattered packs of Kalm Fangs, vicious wolflike creatures that often preyed upon the local livestock and unwary travelers. We didn't have much of a problem with them, though, and I'd heard in town that people in the region paid well for their pelts. So since we needed the money for our journey, we spent some time after the battles preparing the hides before stowing them in our packs. Aerith made quite sure to tease me about the smell, and Red did his best to stay downwind of us after we started collecting the pelts. I didn't blame him, though. They did stink, after all. When we stopped for lunch, I called Tifa and told her about it.

She laughed. "I'm so glad I went with Barret, then!"

"You can come with me tomorrow, Tif," I replied, grinning slightly even though I knew she couldn't see it. "I know you want to."

"Sure, as long as I can stay a good distance away," she teased.

Now it was my turn to laugh. "Not a chance. I was gonna have you carry them for me."

"Nice try, Cloud," Tifa chuckled. "But I think that's your job. You're our leader, after all."

"Remind me to thank Aerith for that little promotion," I said.

Nearby, Aerith looked up from where she was relaxing in the little grassy meadow we had chosen for our break and grinned knowingly at me, having heard every single word that I'd said. I just smirked back at her and shook my head helplessly. I didn't really mind the girls' teasing, though. It was good to lighten things up a bit after reliving the horrors of Nibelheim yesterday afternoon. And I was sure Aerith knew it every bit as well as I did, and so did Tifa.

Her snarky reply was immediate. "Oh, I don't think I need to."

"Tell me about it," I agreed. "Anyway, we'll see you tonight, Tifa. Be careful out there."

"You too, Cloud. Take care."

After I hung up and put my phone away, Aerith scooted over next to me, her emerald eyes twinkling. "You're welcome, Cloud."

"Thanks," I grinned.

She leaned back, her arms a little behind her and her hands flat on the ground. "Anytime. I know you like it."

"Can't get enough of it," I quipped.

"I'll bet!" Aerith snickered. "Anyway, it really is a nice day."

I nodded. "Yeah. We're making pretty good time. We should reach the Chocobo Farm in about five days or so at this rate. Maybe a week if the weather turns bad."

"Do you think it will?" she asked.

I shrugged. "I don't know. It's not supposed to, not for a few days at least, from what they said on the news last night. But I think we might see some rain by the time we get to the marshes."

Aerith nodded. "Any idea how we'll cross them?"

"I'm not sure yet. I heard yesterday that the roads down there have been abandoned ever since the monsters showed up in the mines. And the ground isn't likely to be very good for walking, either."

"What about chocobos?" she suggested. "We're heading to that big farm anyway, right?"

That was actually a pretty good idea. "Yeah, that might work. We'll ask about it when we get there."

"I've never ridden one before. It'll be fun!"

"I guess," I said. "We're not on this journey to have fun, though."

Aerith smiled. "I know that, Cloud. But that doesn't mean we can't enjoy the moments we have. I think it's important to do that. Even little things, like the afternoon breeze or a chocobo ride. The fresh air, being outside with each other. Things we'll all look back on someday and talk about. All the wonderful memories we can share."

She did have a point, I had to admit. It was hard for me to see that far ahead, though. I had no idea where I would end up after this was all over. It didn't really matter though, as long as Aerith was with me. And the others too, of course. But Aerith most of all. I didn't know why, not really. Only that I enjoyed her company and her friendship. Her humor and her insights. Her warmth and kindness. I looked at her, nodding in agreement with what she had said.

"You're right, Aerith. It's just… what if we don't all make it?"

She put her hand over mine. "There's always that possibility. But it just means we should treasure our time with each other even more. No matter what happens. And hold tight to the memories we have. So if… one of us is missing at the end of all this… we'll never forget. And we'll be there for each other, no matter what."

I sighed but didn't say anything, not at first. Images filled my mind, memories of Jessie and the little bit of time that we'd been able to spend together. It didn't hurt quite as much as before, but… I still missed her. Even today, I still think of Jess every now and then. It never goes away, not completely, when you lose someone like that. Not ever.

Aerith gazed at me. "Thinking about her again?"

"Yeah," I answered. "A bit…"

"It gets easier over time, Cloud. I've gone through it myself. I know how it feels, believe me."

I looked at her. "Your mom? Must've been hard."

Aerith leaned against me. "Yeah, it was. I still miss her. But she isn't the only one that I've lost."

"Oh? Who else? No, sorry. I shouldn't have asked…"

"It's okay," she patted my shoulder. "And it doesn't matter."

I frowned, puzzled. "You sure?"

"Yeah. Don't worry about it, Cloud. Anyway, we should get moving soon. We've got a lot of miles to go before dark. And Barret'll never let us hear the end of it if we're late."

"Right," I agreed. "We'd better pack up and head out."

Aerith didn't move right away, though. "In a minute. I just want to sit here a little longer."

I didn't mind. It was nice, having her near me. I slid an arm around Aerith, and she snuggled a little closer as we watched the clouds sliding across the blue sky far overhead. I found myself thinking then of how I had held Jess inside the Sector 4 plate. But again, it didn't hurt so much as it had before. And then it faded away as I felt Aerith lay her head on my shoulder. All that was in my mind then was her, and before I finally let go of her and stood up, I closed my eyes for a moment and swore to myself that I wouldn't lose her as I had Jess.

"Time to go," I said, helping Aerith to her feet.

She brushed herself off as she stood up. "Yeah, you're right. And… thank you. For sitting with me."

I gave her a small smile. "It was fun."

Her answering grin stretched nearly all the way to her ears. "It was, wasn't it, Cloud?"

I found my eyes lingering on Aerith as she walked away to pick up her things. With an effort, I pulled my gaze away from her and started to gather the rest of our gear while Red yawned, got up from where he had been laying on the other side of the meadow, and slowly stretched his legs. We had taken about an hour for lunch and rest, but now it was time for us to move on. It was midafternoon as we finally set out again, and we still had a long way to go before dark.

The sun was sliding beneath the western horizon, back the way we had come, when I caught sight of Cloud and the others walking toward us through the rolling fields of tall grass. It was dusk, the early evening sky a wonderful collage of blue and pink and orange. I had missed this sort of thing during my years in Midgar with Barret and the rest. There were times now and then that I had gone to the outer wall of the slums just to catch a glimpse of the sky. And it was in those moments, sitting on an old bench or on a small pile of junk and gazing out at the endless blue, that I had missed Cloud the most.

But he was back in my life again, and I waved at him as he, Aerith, and Red approached the little dell that Barret and I had picked for our campsite tonight. The five of us had agreed that it would be safer for us to stay away from towns and settlements as much as possible for now. I didn't know how long Shinra would be searching for us, but we weren't going to take any chances. There were many smaller towns and villages from here to the Chocobo Farm and lots of homes and farms scattered all along the way. Although news probably spread more slowly out here than back in Midgar or Kalm, we had still thought it best that we camp outside rather than find an inn to stay at every night. So as twilight had approached, Cloud and I had coordinated things over the phone so we would know where to stop for the day and when.

We already had a nice little fire going, the flickering orange glow of the flames bright and cheerful in the gathering gloom. I turned back to it, checking on the food cooking in a few pots and pans sitting out on a rack over the fire. The dell we were in was settled in between two small hills a few miles south of the main highway, and a small stream flowed nearby through a loose cluster of trees and shrub while in the distance to the east rose a long, dark line of jagged mountains.

Somewhere off in the brush, crickets were chirping, and the stream was babbling not so far away. It really was a peaceful place, and I found I could almost forget why were out here. I knew that not all our nights would be like this, but I thought it was nice that the end of our first day on the road was so pleasant.

"Hi, Tifa!" Aerith smiled, then inhaled deeply as she bent over one of the pans. "Smells good! Need a hand?"

I grinned. "Sure. Stir this for me, would you?"

While she and I worked on dinner, Aerith minding the pot while I tended to the meat, Cloud, Barret, and Red put up the tents. One for us and one for the boys. I wasn't sure what Red could do to help, but there he was, carefully holding down the corners of the canvas with his paws so that Cloud could pound the spikes into the ground. It didn't take all that long, and as they were finishing up, I had Aerith hand me the long wooden spoon she'd been stirring the pot with and took a brief taste. A bit more seasoning, I thought.

It might have been fine just as it was, but I had never cared to settle for good enough as far as my cooking was concerned. It was more than a hobby for me. It was a passion, and it all had to be as good as I could possibly make it. Making sure each flavor came out just right was a bit of a challenge for me, but I always enjoyed it. So had Wedge, of course. He had always been eager to taste test for me. He'd actually been pretty good at it, too. I missed that, and him. I sighed, knowing it wouldn't be quite the same without him.

But just as I was thinking that, Aerith smiled and had a taste of her own. "It's really good. But a little more oregano, I think."

I laughed. "I had the same thought, Aerith. Do you cook?"

"A little. I used to help Mom in the kitchen sometimes. But I know I don't hold a candle to you, Tifa. I've heard how good you are—Cloud told me about it on the way here—and I can tell he wasn't exaggerating. This really is delicious!"

"Thanks," I replied. "It's an old recipe of mine."

She handed me the oregano, and after a moment's thought, I added just a pinch more into the pot. You always have to be careful with how much of a seasoning you use. Too little and you can barely taste it. Too much and it'll overwhelm the rest of the dish. It's a balancing act, and it takes a lot of time and practice to get it right. After Aerith stirred in the extra pinch of oregano, we both took another taste and grinned at each other. Perfect! And we both knew it.

Sitting around the campfire, we all ate and talked, planning for the next day and reflecting about this one. Cloud didn't say much, but then again, he had never been a talkative person to begin with. I was used to it though, so I didn't mind. He sat in between me and Aerith, listening more than talking. But he complimented me on the food, and when he did that, I couldn't help beaming a little.

After dinner, we cleaned up the dishes and put everything away. It didn't take very long, especially with the boys helping out. Then we sat back down around the fire and just relaxed for a while, the glow of the flames reflected on our faces and in our eyes. Barret had gathered up a few long sticks earlier, and soon enough he passed them around along with a bag of marshmallows.

Red looked on in amusement and then took a stick in his teeth and held it steady so Barret could put one of the puffy white confections on the end. Once that was done, Red turned his head a little until the stick hung out over the fire along with ours. I smiled, amused and impressed by his ingenuity as Aerith giggled at the sight. She was on my left, past Cloud, who like before sat in between us. Barret loomed on my right, a big shadow in the dark, and Red was across from me.

When his marshmallow was a nice shade of brown, he turned back to Barret, who pulled it off the stick and casually tossed it over to him. Red let go of the narrow branch and snatched the treat out of the air in one quick, fluid motion. He wolfed it down in just a few bites, then sat back on his haunches. "Not bad. It's been long since I have sat by a fire like this. Not since I left home."

"How long were you in that lab?" I wondered.

"Many years," he answered. "But I do not know exactly. It was hard to measure the passing of time in there."

I gazed across the fire at him, understanding what he meant. "Well, I'm glad you're with us now."

"As am I, Tifa. It is good to be free again."

"What's your home like, Red?" Aerith wondered.

He smiled fondly. "It is a beautiful place. A desert canyon, very far from here. Everything is built into the rock itself—homes, shops, all of it. Many people live there. They come from all over."

While Aerith and Red continued to chat, I noticed that Barret had finished his own marshmallow and had put down his stick. In his hand now was an old photo, one I recognized at once and which sent a wave of sadness through my heart. It was of Biggs, Wedge, and Jessie, posing together and smiling in front of the Seventh Heaven.

"I remember when you took that picture," I said, leaning closer. "It wasn't long after Jessie joined us."

Barret nodded. "Yeah. Kept it on me ever since. Jacket pocket. You can call me soft or sentimental if you want, Tif. I jus' always needed to have 'em near me. I ain't ready to say why yet. But I've lost a lot to them damn Shinra, even before I came to Midgar. Now this is all I got left of my team, my pals. We was like family. You know that, Tif. And you was part of it as well. Still hard to believe they're gone."

I blinked away sudden tears. "I know, Barret. I miss them, too."

Although talking with Aerith and the others about them yesterday morning had helped, I knew that it would still take time for the pain to really heal. But at least none of us was alone. We all had each other and were there for one another. I laid a hand upon Barret's shoulder and he smiled gratefully. Then I saw that Cloud had drawn near to us, his eyes locked on the photo. I knew he was thinking of them, of her, and as his own eyes slid closed for a moment and his head bowed ever so slightly, I reached out my other hand and took his. At my touch, he opened his eyes again and nodded. Then he looked at Barret.

"Frame it," he said. "When this is all over."

Barret slipped it back into his jacket. "I will, Cloud. Jus' as soon as we kick Sephiroth's ass and find us a new home. Then it's goin' right up on the wall. Thanks, man."

"They were my friends, too. I'm not gonna forget them."

"None of us will, that's for damn sure," Barret agreed. "An' now that I think 'bout it, there's somethin' else. Somethin' Jess wanted the two of you to know. She never got to tell you herself, 'bout her background an' where she came from an' who she really was, but she told me everythin' jus' before we went to the pillar."

Cloud didn't look surprised. "Just before she died, Jess told me that Heidegger was her father."

I glanced sharply at him, unable to hide my own shock. I knew she had never said much about her past but had never blamed her for it. In the slums, it wasn't something you asked about very much. Although I had always wondered about it, I had never pressed her for any details. I had known that Jess would tell us when she felt she was ready. But now she was gone forever, and I listened closely as Barret laid it all out, how Jessie had worked for Shinra for years before fleeing down to the slums and eventually finding us. And I found it didn't change how I felt about her. Not at all. Jess was still my friend, like a sister, and after hearing all that she had gone through, I missed her even more.

Cloud took something out his pocket then, just for a moment, and I realized it was one of Jessie's round, homemade bombs. "While I was with her in the pillar, Jess gave this to me."

"What for?" I asked, though I had an idea.

He went on. "Sooner or later, we'll have to fight Heidegger. That's a given. Jess wanted me to use this when we do, and I intend to. It's from her, and he's gonna know that before he dies."

His voice was laced with steel as he finished speaking, and I didn't blame him. All I had to do was close my eyes to see the Shinra chopper shooting Jess down before she blew herself up to save us, Wedge firing his gun and charging at the soldiers before they overwhelmed him and left him lifeless on the ground, and Biggs filled with bullets as he lay on the landing, slumped and dead. I could see the upper plate crushing all that was underneath it, so many people, as it collapsed upon what had once been our home. I looked up and saw my rage reflected in Barret's eyes as well as Cloud's. Aerith and Red said nothing, but they had been listening to Barret's tale. They had their own reasons for hating Shinra and understood well enough what we were feeling.

The five of us talked for a while longer, moving on to other things, and eventually we decided to go inside our tents to sleep. Red, though, chose to stay outside instead, curling up a little closer to the fire. Aerith lightly patted his nose and hugged him goodnight before following me into our tent. We whispered together for bit, laying comfortably within our sleeping bags, before finally drifting off.

We set out not long after daybreak, splitting up again as before, but this time we switched up. Tifa went with me and Aerith while Red and Barret traveled together. The mountains grew steadily closer and larger ahead of us both to our right and our left as we continued heading east toward a wide valley, and the ground became less flat and instead rose and fell in a long swath of rolling hills as we made our way closer to the two lines of peaks and the gap in between them.

The next few days passed much the same as the first. We moved by day and rested at night, meeting up somewhere outside to camp by the time dusk crept across the sky. When we would set out in the morning, we continued to stay in two groups, one north of the highway and one south of it. Aerith always stayed with me, as I wanted to keep her close. I was still her bodyguard, after all, and although I knew that the others would protect her without hesitation, I just didn't want to be separated from her. Not after what had happened to Jess.

The others took turns in the third spot, rotating every day. We ran across a few groups of monsters as we traveled, but nothing we couldn't handle. A few more Kalm Fangs, some Mandragoras—plantlike things with an ear-splitting shriek—along with a Levrikon or two. Those were large creatures like giant birds with black feathers, long necks, and two short, clawed arms instead of wings. They had a tendency to peck at us with their beaks but still weren't much trouble.

After the battles, we always took what we could from the bodies to sell later. Pelts, feathers, claws, leaves—whatever we knew people in the nearby towns and villages would buy. And sometimes we stopped into one of those places, sold all we'd collected, and restocked our food and supplies. People crafted all kinds of things out of monster parts, which was why they were in such demand. And simply clearing out the beasts also paid well on top of that. So money wasn't much of a problem as we entered the valley and continued onward.

Whenever we made those trips into town, we also paid attention to what people were talking about. There had been a few sightings of who we were looking for, the man in the black cloak, and sometimes he left a few more bodies behind as he had in Kalm and Midgar. So it seemed we were still on his trail. He was still heading east, according to the talk and rumors that were floating around. I was determined to catch up to him and settle things, to make him answer for all that he'd done. Anger simmered within me whenever we spoke of him, of Sephiroth, or when we listened to the townsfolk talking about the death he had left behind in his wake and where he had gone.

We also heard about our elusive ninja thief. Apparently she had left Kalm just before we did and had been heading east the same as us. She had hit a few small settlements here and there, from what we had been able to find out, but had left pretty quickly each time, never seeming to stay in one place for very long. She didn't seem to have had very much of a head start, and I wondered when we would run into her again. She was skilled and cunning, I couldn't deny that, and I was sure we would cross paths again sooner or later.

About five days out from Kalm, the clouds darkened as rain began to fall. At first it was just a drizzle, and we kept going, shrugging on the coats we'd gotten for weather like this. But as the day wore on, the rain poured faster, and we had to meet up in one of the nearby villages and wait out the worst of it. Once the rain had finally slackened enough, we left and moved on. We weren't far from the Chocobo Farm now, and at the rate we were going, we would reach it tomorrow.

The rain kept falling all through the night, along with a few distant rumbles of thunder, so our camp that evening was a cold and cheerless one. We went to sleep early, our tents pitched near a winding stream at the bottom of a low hill on the grassy plains beyond the wide valley we had passed through. The drops pattered endlessly on the canvas as I lay there and tried to rest, but by dawn, the rain finally stopped, and we set out again across the wet ground. The sun rose high in the air, the skies cleared, and as the hours went by, the ground and the tall waves of rich green grass dried out. We took off our raincoats and put them away as the day's warmth filled us, and it was just a little past noon when we at last caught sight of our destination.

Surrounded by neatly trimmed fields full of what could only be the various leafy vegetables that chocobos loved, the appropriately-named Chocobo Farm was a large, clean collection of buildings with sparkling white walls and several paddocks. A modest two-story home stood off to the left, and near it was a long, low building presumably housing the stables. Past that rose a tall silo, and though we were still some distance away, I could still make out the unmistakable yellow forms of chocobos wandering around inside the paddocks, their broad feathers bright and cheerful in the afternoon sun.

As we approached the Chocobo Farm, walking down the wide dirt road leading to it, Tifa and Aerith both grinned before dashing over to the fence to get a better look at the birds. I wasn't surprised, and Barret just laughed and shook his head while Red looked on. They had joined us not long ago, meeting us outside a village a few miles south of here. We had thought it best to enter the farm together, and as we caught up to Aerith and Tifa, I could hear them chatting together and giggling as one of the chocobos walked up to them. Blinking its large eyes, it gazed back at the girls and warbled softly.

"Oh, aren't they just adorable, Cloud?" Aerith gushed.

I shrugged. "I suppose. I could do without the smell, though."

Tifa sniffed as she cooed lovingly at the bird. "It's hardly their fault, you know. Don't be so hard on them. They can't help it."

"Yeah!" Aerith added. "They're just so cute you can't hold anything against them. Right, Tifa?"

"Right!" she chuckled.

It was good to see the girls happy, so I let it go for now. "We should head inside and talk to the owner, see if we can't get a few answers and find out if Sephiroth's been here."

Aerith leaned against the fence alongside Tifa. "You guys go ahead. We'll stay out here with the chocobos."

I nodded, not the least bit surprised. And there was no way I could possibly say no to her, not with how she smiled at me, her emerald eyes bright and twinkling with more warmth than the afternoon sun, before turning back to gaze fondly at the big yellow birds in the paddock. She reached out a hand to the one nearest her, the one that had approached her and Tifa earlier, and stroked the soft feathers. After a moment, Tifa did the same, and I watched them for a moment before finally moving away and walking up to the house with Barret and Red. The first stage of our journey was over, but the next part wasn't going to be as easy or as pleasant as this one had been.